Part of Your World
by I.C. Weener
Summary: This game would have been 100% redeemed if this was the DLC2 campaign.
1. Chapter 1

" _Juurenja, Juurenja. Densetsu no senshi-tachi yo."_

\- Kenta Satou

" _Hmhmheheheheh."_

\- Ganon's Puppet Zelda, _The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess_

* * *

Zelda grew worried as she saw the readings of the Sheikah Slate in her palm. The kingdom was safe and the skies were clear of Calamity Ganon's blight, but there was still so much work to be done.

"Odd," she said softly toward Link. "Vah Ruta's stopped functioning. I think we should head for Zora's Domain to see if something's wrong."

Link was easily agreeable to that. As they set out for their destination, Zelda made sure he always walked a few paces ahead of her.

She hadn't even reached the place where their horses were waiting before the dull pain returned and she stumbled without Link noticing. She clenched her palm over her heart and winced while she quickly caught her breath. With all the magic she had used finally sealing Ganon away, she wouldn't be able to pull off her ruse for much longer.

* * *

With her and Ruta's mission complete, all Mipha could do now was cry. Cry for the life she had lost. Cry for the future she would never have. Cry for the world she had given everything to protect but never be allowed to live in. Cry for the family she would never see again. Cry for the century of torment she had endured as a ghost only to realize there was nothing left for her when her spirit was finally freed.

Destroying Ganon had become Mipha's sole purpose after death, and now she suddenly found herself with no purpose. Zelda had spent a lifetime lamenting over her failures. Mipha was doomed to an eternity of it. The only ones who joined her in Vah Ruta's sanctum were the three ghostly Champions hovering above her. They were each hanging heads in the dark with no supporting words to offer her.

Mipha abruptly stopped her sobbing when she heard the sounds of Link and Zelda wading through the shallow water behind her. She rose up from her knees and weightlessly lofted back to her feet as she faced them. It took every effort for her eerie and ethereal self to swallow back her tears and stand at attention. Link only needed to know Hyrule was saved and didn't need to waste his time worrying about her anymore. She only prayed he and Zelda hadn't overheard more than a few seconds of her despair.

They had been there for all of it.

Link reacted as his usual silent self, consumed by his own grief. Zelda looked like she was on the cusp of saying something that would shatter the foundations of the very kingdom more than Ganon himself. Mipha opened her mouth to explain herself, but Zelda interrupted her instantly.

"Princess Mipha, what if I gave you a second chance?"

Link became puzzled by the mere suggestion. Zelda glanced toward him with regret growing in her eyes.

"Link, there was one thing my father couldn't bring himself to tell you when you first woke up. He was afraid you would have given up hope completely if you knew the whole truth."

She peered hesitantly toward Mipha, toward the choir of guardian angels hovering above Mipha, and then finally brought herself to face Link again.

"One hundred years ago, four of the Champions gave up their lives trying to protect Hyrule from Calamity Ganon… as did their Princess. You were the only one to survive us."

"Zelda, that's crazy! You're standing right in front of me!" Link exclaimed in shock.

Zelda held out her palm, revealing her entire life force summed up as a single pale green candle flame. And now it was beginning to flicker.

"What you see is only my physical remains," Zelda explained with a look of sadness. "I've been using my power to keep my spirit preserved in my body the whole time I kept the Calamity trapped in the castle. I had to in order to uphold the prophecy. When I'm alive, my powers mean everything for Hyrule's future. If I only existed as a spirit, they would be worthless. Now my powers are waning, and I already feel my soul trying to escape its cage. I'll only remain like this for another few days at most."

The Hylian princess slowly glanced toward her Zora counterpart.

"Princess Mipha, if you have any use for it, if you have any sort of unfinished business that keeps your spirit from finding peace, you're free to have my physical form. It's the most I can do to make up for what I let happen to you."

"I don't understand," Link said in confusion. "If you're just going to wither away anyway, how does that help Mipha?"

Zelda turned toward him with a tiny hopeful smile.

"You still possess Mipha's Grace, don't you?"

Link came to a realization, and slowly nodded.

"That should be enough to keep her spirit bound to a living form for a whole lifetime," Zelda said. "She'll just have to use her power conservatively from now on, but she was always the most careful one when we were alive."

The spirits of the three fallen warriors started conversing in the air above them.

" _It kills me seeing Mipha like this, and I'm already dead,"_ Daruk's ghost murmured in guilt. _"Would you guys have any problems if we let her cheat the system a little bit?"_

Revali struggled with his own mixed feelings.

" _On one hand, I still want to strangle that farm boy by his scrawny neck and prove he couldn't beat me if I had a wing tied behind my back. He just got lucky because he didn't have one of those damn blobs sent to kill him or have a chunk of the castle fall on him. On the other hand, Mipha was always too nice for the 'duty and sacrifice' thing. She just pushed herself through it for his sake. Now she's taking it rougher than any of us."_

The ghostly Rito stubbornly lowered his head. Finally, he sighed in defeat.

" _What the hell. I say give the little squid a shot. At least one princess has to stick around to make sure they make a statue of me."_

" _There's no shame in taking back what was stolen from you,"_ Urbosa briefly but wisely added.

"Are you ready, Mipha?" Zelda asked with an inviting gesture. The ghost of the Zora princess suddenly found herself equal parts hopeful, fearful, and unknowing.

"This will be the best for both of us," Zelda said to encourage her. "You'll have a chance to see your father again, and I'll be able to see mine."

" _Princess Zelda…"_ Mipha hesitated. _"I… I don't know how to thank you. If this is your final will, of course I'll do as you ask."_

Zelda held out her palm with her candle flame growing weaker. Link placed his hand over hers and surrendered the healing powers Mipha had bestowed on him. They both waited as Mipha built up the courage to hover closer and place her pale transparent hand between theirs.

As soon as their three hands touched, Vah Ruta's control shrine was engulfed in a miraculous explosion of light.

Zelda's spirit was now hovering in the spot over the water where Mipha had previously appeared. The living Zelda weakly staggered backwards and fainted in exhaustion. Link quickly caught her falling form in his arms.

" _Give her time to adjust,"_ Zelda's ghost said with an assuring smile.

The living Zelda stirred gently in Link's grasp. Her eyelids twitched for a few seconds, and then hesitantly opened as if she were waking up from a hundred-year nightmare. Her eyes twinkled with a renewed golden aquatic shimmer.

"Link?" the princess asked with a look of uncertainty.

"Mipha," her knight replied in relief.

"Link," the princess whispered again as she tried to shake the dizzy feeling out of her head. "This feels so strange. I'm not sure if I'll be able…"

Link ended all of her doubts with the only thing he could think of: The kiss he should have given her a century ago when he still had the chance. Mipha peacefully closed her eyes again, knowing this was the start of her new life as a Hylian and everything was going to be fine.


	2. Chapter 2

_"You haven't won, Payton. You can't. Because no matter who you pretend to be, inside you're just like me."_

\- Viper

" _Shall I tell_ _you_ _what I find beautiful about_ _you_ _?_ _You are at your very best when things are worst."_

\- Starman

* * *

Beakers and broomsticks rattled on the shelves of the Hateno research lab. Purah and Mipha were huddled together at the center desk with various scientific gadgets strewn about. Link quietly stood back by the rune board, giving the two women some personal space and nervously waiting for the results of the test.

The tiny Sheikah professor busily hopped up and down on her stool. She whacked Mipha across her knees to check her reflexes. She instructed Mipha to say "Ahhh" and inspected the inside of her mouth. She carefully plucked one of Mipha's eyelids open and whisked a divining candle in front of her face. She rigorously scanned Mipha's biorhythms using every option available on the Sheikah Slate. She compared the angles of Mipha's ears with a T bevel. She wrapped Mipha in measuring tape to study her waist-to-hips ratio.

Purah was especially interested in today's research specimen.

"Your vitals are all perfectly normal," she squeaked joyfully. "No signs of bone deterioration, skin decay, or organ damage. And you're _how_ old?"

"Uh hundred an eighdeen," Mipha said with a tongue depressor still slurring her voice.

"I'm impressed!" Purah exclaimed. "By the looks of things, I'd say you have about another 100 left in ya. Same as Tall, Mute, and Handsome over here, and he needed the Chamber of Resurrection to pull it off!"

Purah waved toward Link before playfully snapping her attention back to Mipha.

"I love the eyes, by the way. Reflective tapetum isn't typically a Hylian trait."

Purah pulled the wooden stick away from Mipha's mouth and hopped back. She tapped the end of the stick against her temple with one hand and furiously scratched her chin with the other.

"So let me see if I'm understanding all of this," Purah said in deep contemplation. "You lost your Zora body a century ago. Zelda sealed her own life force around the same time fighting Mr. Slimy Snout. And she just let you have the old meat and potatoes when she was done?"

Mipha nodded shyly, still hardly believing it herself.

"And you didn't need any crazy Sheikah technology to pull it off?" Purah hopped curiously. "It was all just friendship and teamwork? Power of love overcoming utter despair? That sorta thing?"

Mipha nodded again, speaking softly.

"Link and I would have given her my healing power so she could restore herself if she had only asked. She wanted me to be the one who lived on."

" _Awww_ ," Purah sighed with her hands tucked beside her cheek, nearly growing teary-eyed. "The two of you were always so much alike. Always putting the lives of your people in front of your own. I can already tell she picked the right successor."

Purah flicked the tongue depressor into a beaker 20 feet away and tossed the entire wad of measuring tape over her shoulder.

"Well, I'd say you're one lucky girl. Zelda did a pretty good job keeping herself in top shape in all those years. Maybe I should be taking beauty tips from _you_."

The professor tilted her head and squinted her eyes as she gave Mipha one last up-and-down.

"The only other thing I still need to check are your fluid levels. Gotta make sure you're not going to shrivel up like a moldy zapshroom at any minute."

Link gasped. Mipha's complexion turned ghostly green as she plummeted into a look of abject terror.

"Naw, I'm just playin' with ya." Purah waved her arm teasingly. "The official diagnosis is you're a perfectly healthy Hylian girl. Enjoy the rest of your life! Lady Hylia sure knows you've earned it!"

Mipha shook her hood in disbelief. She started walking away from the desk while Purah rummaged through her scientific tools.

"Here's your toy back!" the doctor said as she tossed the Sheikah Slate to Link. He caught it instantly with one hand and slipped it back into his belt.

"Take good care of it, and take good care of our princess!" Purah happily waved him goodbye.

Link and Mipha reunited with a long hug and relieved glances. Just as the two were about to walk out the door, Purah hopped up in excitement.

"Oh, Princess Mipha! One more thing!"

The little professor clapped her hands together as she stood on her tippy toes. Her teeth widened into an almost mischievous grin.

"Did you hire anyone for the wedding photos yet?"

* * *

 _Author's note: There. Now you can't say she's Beetlejuice._


End file.
